North Carolina has moved yet another step closer to legal sports betting as the Senate Commerce Committee has given its approval to a bill that would clear mobile sportsbooks to launch in the state.
HB 347 proposes an expansion of the current gambling market which would allow for mobile sports betting. At present, retail sportsbooks are the only form of legal sports betting in North Carolina. However, despite the House Commerce Committee approving the bill in March of this year, there were some questions regarding the inclusion of sweepstakes parlors that feature video lottery machines in the legislation.
The bill has since been amended and will now allow the state lottery to license and regulate as many as 34,000 video lottery machines across North Carolina.
Sweepstakes parlors have been a contentious issue in the state for some time and earlier this year, police in Charlotte-Mecklenburg launched a crackdown on two local arcades for illicit gambling activities, confiscating $95,000 in the process. Supporters of the newly amended bill say that this legislation will eliminate such illegal operations.
In their place, the state lottery would oversee legal video gambling. All legal machines would be connected to a central network with 40% of machine profits going directly to the state.
The Senate version of the bill must now go through two more committees before heading for a floor vote. However, ahead of any vote N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper has said that he will support legalizing mobile sports betting.
An experienced iGaming commentator and analyst based in New York City - Jenny reports on regulation and gambling industry news and events.